Displaced
by benignmilitancy
Summary: "Shadow?" He doesn't know what they're running from. "Are we dead?"
1. Chapter 1

_Displaced_

* * *

"Shadow… what did you _do?" _

He turns to the sound of Sonic's incredulous voice, then tightens his hold on the Emerald gripped in his fist until his knuckles crack. His reflection shows saliently on dark, extinguished glass. Damned if he knows himself.

He'd screamed the command the moment the Doctor's bomb blinked 00:00—before blistering heat rained down. Chaos Control intercepted the explosion, freezing it before the immense shockwave ground Sonic's skeleton into a fine paste.

But it has also halted the surrounding environment altogether. The clouds have frozen. Leaves fallen still. Fleeing birds sweep impressionistic dashes over the sky by the brush of an unseen painter. There is no sound to speak of except the tattered scrape of Sonic's breath, the creak in his gloves as he grasps a patch of grass for support.

Sonic lies prone in the grass, arm still thrown over himself where he'd tried to shield his eyes from the explosion. Dirt smudges his cheek. Groaning from the strain, he reaches into his mouth with a probing finger and winces at the red smearing its tip. He's bitten on his tongue.

Pushing himself up, he gazes upon the bomb's brilliant, flaming core. Awe flickers across his illuminated face, followed by questioning.

"I don't know." Shadow grabs his wrist. "But we shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth."

"What about the bomb? What the heck's going on here? Eggman's—"

"Run, Sonic."

And they do.

* * *

"This is givin' me the creeps," he says, glancing around at frozen streetlights. "You sure you didn't, uh… break the Emerald or anything?"

"Certain."

"I had plenty of time to split, y'know."

"You're welcome, Sonic."

Red sneakers smack empty stretches of asphalt, accompanying the fluid glide of hover skates.

"Shadow?" He doesn't know what they're running from. "Are we dead?"

"What do you think?"

"I think something's majorly screwed up here. Chaos Control shouldn't last this long."

* * *

He carefully closes the door to Tails' lab and rubs his hands against his cheeks, warming them. After a while he breathes out and straightens himself up. The neighborhood is empty, bright, quiet.

"They're not home."

Neither, it seems, is the rest of the world.

* * *

"Can I see the Emerald?"

"Go to sleep, Sonic."

"Shadow," he says. "C'mon, man. Emerald. Quick. Gimme."

"Why should I give it to you? You're not thinking clearly. You need to sleep."

"Me? What about you?"

"I'm not like you. My faculties remain intact no matter what."

"Whatever you say, buddy."

"Sleep."

"It's still daytime."

"It will always remain daytime in this part of the world. Go to sleep."

"I think you broke time, Shadow."

"Go to sleep."

"Know any other good songs on that broken record of yours?"

"Yes: be quiet, close your eyes and stop talking so I can think."

"I'm not closin' my eyes."

"Sleep. _Now."_

"Tell you the truth, the thought's freakin' me out a little."

"Why?"

"I don't know if it'll still be today when I open my eyes."

* * *

Sonic yawns as he dangles from a pine bough, rubbing sore eyes whose white sclera have tinged pink at their edges. "Maybe Knuckles can help us," he suggests. "The Master Emerald can knock out the power of the Chaos Emeralds. They've gotta be able to fix… whatever the heck _this_ is." He waves at the stagnant sunlight pouring through the needles. Warmth nudges their skin like a congealed, syrupy mass.

Shadow considers this while observing a woodpecker paused mid-peck. A fine spray of sawdust has burst from its beak. "And if the guardian's also frozen?"

"We're just borrowing his stuff for a minute. No sweat."

Shadow's gaze flicks toward the sky. "How are we getting on the island?"

Sonic scratches his head. "Hitch a ride with a UFO?"

"There's no such thing."

Sonic laughs, quivering the lifeless branches on which he sits. From nerves borne of insomnia, Shadow supposes. Nonetheless, it irks him enough to ask just what it is he finds so funny.

"Dude, you were _born _on a UFO."

Shadow briefly wonders if mortals can lose their minds from lack of sleep, and whether it's worth it to drag them back from the brink. "First," he says, "the ARK maintains a geosynchronous orbit. It does not _fly. _Second—"

"We come in _peace_." Sonic clutches his gut and wheezes.

* * *

There is no guardian in sight.

"Weird… Guess Knucklehead took a vacation, too." Sonic turns. "You got the Emerald?"

"Here."

He places the gem at the foot of the Master Emerald. Nothing happens, making him squat down and tilt his head. Irritation chafes Shadow's raw nerves like sandpaper as he prods a finger at the drained Emerald. "There, uh, might be kind of a problem here."

Shadow clenches his fists. "What now?"

"Well, here he usually _chants _something, and—"

"You don't know what it is." He should have known better than to entertain these silly delusions. He turns from the altar and marches down the crumbled stone steps. Time has ceased, and yet he feels whatever moments they've spent here have already somehow been wasted. "Of course."

"Hey, don't— I don't _know _what Knuckles says, okay?"

* * *

Minutes in the span of days, days in the span of seconds. The sun remains fixed in the sky, although it changes angle only based on their location. Like a ceased current, the flow of time has begun to stagnate their perceptions.

Sonic balances himself alongside a rickety train bridge, arms thrust out on either side to keep him from plunging into the river some twenty feet below.

Shadow parallels him on the opposite side of the tracks. Where Sonic occasionally stumbles, he maintains unflinchingly perfect poise. "I must admit, this recent peace has been a welcome change of pace. Your world is incredibly chaotic. Noise seeps from even the quietest places."

"My world?" Sonic lifts a brow. "You mean Earth."

"Let's not argue."

"All this is just confirming my theory that you're from another solar system, Shad."

He snorts.

Speaking with Sonic for long periods of time is like exploring the wilderness without a map. He makes long, winding statements, almost reaching a point of sorts before cutting in with an abrupt detour, a sudden aside plunging his thoughts directly back into lost territory.

Steps patter steel before Sonic dives again into empty conversation, though this attempt succeeds in taking him by surprise. "What did it feel like when you fell from space?"

"What?"

"I don't know." He wobbles, steadies himself. "Kinda been thinking the explosion might've felt the same way you did when… " Sonic crumples at his blistering glare. "Never mind. Sorry."

Eventually, he relents. "It didn't feel like anything."

"Really?"

"I was ready to die," Shadow says. "That's probably the difference between… what I went through, and what you would have experienced."

Sonic lets the deafening silence stretch.

"Huh."

Shadow passes a hand along the bridge's steel rail, feeling graffiti fleck under his palm. "Of course, that's irrelevant. Our goal is to reverse this prolonged Chaos Control."

"How you figure we're gonna do that? We don't even know how you managed to pull the rabbit outta the hat the first time around."

"There has to be a way."

"Sure," Sonic replies. "Just be great if we had a clue of some kind."

* * *

With all the time in the world to stoke each other's tempers, they inevitably reach a point where they argue interminably. About everything. What happened. Who deserves the blame. Shadow has begun to feel he's losing his grip. All there ever is, ever was, ever will be—trying to drill a point into this boy's thick skull.

"Chaos Control entails more than simply stopping time. It's a way of channeling your will through the Emerald."

"Okay, so lemme get this straight: when you stopped the bomb from going off… Did you wish the world would stop turning, too?"

Shadow's ears flatten. "Tell me you aren't serious."

"Hey, ya never know. Maybe you weren't exactly thinkin' it at the time, but something just slipped through. The Emeralds take what's inside of you and amplify it." Sonic sweeps out his arms as he lies on a bed of leaves. "And if this is your ideal world… Gotta say, it's a pretty boring one."

His lip curls back. "Assuming your inane theory is true," he says, "I must have wound up in hell."

"Whoa, buddy. Try not to bleed too hard on that edge there."

"Let me remind you that had I not induced Chaos Control, you would be lying dead in a patch of grass. Leave the scorn and mockery to me."

"And there it is," Sonic says, springing to his feet. "Why don't you just come out and say it? You're always running around trying to be the big macho action hero, not 'cause you wanna help people, 'cause you wanna feel like you're _better_ than they are."

"Easy for you to say. Your mere existence earns you adoration wherever you go."

"It's called not having a huge stick up my butt, Shadow. Works wonders for making friends. Maybe you ought to try it sometime."

"Hypocrite."

Sonic blinks, as if slapped. His expression darkens. "What?"

"Do you honestly believe I care if this world hates me? Humans don't enrich my life any more than the rest of their noisy planet." A forest, normally full of chatter, now stands quiet as a grave. "Regardless, I've sworn to protect it. On the other hand, you save it on a regular basis because you know you couldn't get your thrills anywhere else."

"Uh, no freaking duh? Where am I gonna live, on the moon? Gonna make a bed for me on the ARK?"

The thought is simultaneously depressing and gruesome. But Sonic, as usual, moves on too quickly to dwell on the implications.

"Why do I keep fighting Egghead? Gee, I don't know—let's count the ways. Maybe 'cause he won't give it a rest? Maybe 'cause there's too much beauty in the world to just lay down and let him steamroll over everything? And 'cause it's wrong to let someone like _him_ wreck everyone's future? Or maybe because no one should ever get hurt the way he hurt—"

This marks the first time Sonic willingly bites his tongue, as well as the first time Shadow wishes he would elaborate.

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing. Forget it."

Later, they encounter a meadow. Beautiful, if not for its eerie stillness.

Sonic scans the rolling slopes for a single woodland animal, his shoulders sagging when he realizes there are none. "Shadow," he begins, "you really think everyone hates you?"

"I know they do."

"How?"

"By looking in their eyes. Their fear is the same. It becomes easy to recognize after a while."

"Ever meet someone who wasn't?"

"Wasn't what?"

"Scared of you."

Shadow folds his arms. "That hasn't happened in quite some time."

"Rouge?"

"Apprehensive."

"At first," Sonic corrects. "She warmed up to you, though. So did Omega."

"Who attempted to shoot me down on sight."

"You just haven't tried, Shadow. That's all I'm sayin'." Plucking the Emerald he's currently studying out of his grasp, Sonic refuses to return it until he focuses on him. "This world is so big, so full of good people, you're really gonna stand there and say they'll all reject you? More like you don't give 'em the chance. You shut down anybody who tries to get close. What are you scared of?"

"The same thing you are."

Sonic falls silent. He will remain so for a maddeningly indeterminate amount of time. Could be years for all Shadow knows. The sun glares bright as ever on the world. Perhaps it's time to move toward the opposite side of the globe in search of answers.

They trek through deserts, woodlands, tundras, the Doctor's bases.

Sonic's tread grows less resolute. His pauses stretch ever wider. He begins to sleep with less provocation and stays asleep for longer. Once, they pass through an empty city that he's certain used to burst at the seams with life, and he sinks to his knees, curls into himself, refusing to take another step. Come on. Get up. Believing he's being stubborn to spite him, Shadow slings him over his shoulder, taking him down a flight of subway stairs before Sonic vomits greenish bile.

Shadow returns with a soda can and a fistful of candy bars he's gleaned from smashing his fist through a broken vending machine. A small risk, but given the derelict state of the subway, he feels it safe to assume their absence wouldn't amount to much in the grand scheme of things. Sonic devours the snacks and sleeps fitfully on a steel bench. When he wakes, the train remains exactly where it is, cramped halfway through the tunnel, never arriving, never departing.

* * *

"I think we've gotta head back."

Nothing catches him as off-guard as much as Sonic's quiet aside. They stand on a white strand of beach, the ocean painted pale by moonlight. The waves have crystallized into motionless curls, never reaching the rocks they intend to crest.

"Explain."

"Everyone's gone. I don't think they disappeared, though. I think we did. They probably can't see us." Sonic gazes into the stillborn moon. "If no one can see us, there's absolutely no way they can help us out, so we gotta help ourselves. And the only place we know for sure that this weirdness started… " He takes a deep breath, rakes a hand through his quills. "Well, it's kind of a long shot, but maybe it can unstick this time freeze for us."

"If time resumes its natural course, the detonation will as well."

"I know." He shakes his head. "Shadow, I don't wanna live like this. Every day the same thing, nothing changing, nothing… " Lifting his gaze again toward the moon, he swallows. "This world's just gotta keep turning. That's all I know."

"We'll both be caught in the blast."

"You won't be. You can still run. You were on the edge, remember? Almost cut yourself on it."

Shadow remains stony to his feeble grasp at humor. "There's nothing I can say to make you reconsider, is there?"

Sonic offers him a wan smile, and slowly, resolutely, shakes his head.

* * *

"This can't be happening." Panic reduces his voice to a dry whisper. His stomach plunges like a stone, sinking deeper and deeper. "No, this isn't right— It was here, right _here_—"

Here, there is no bomb to speak of. No conflagration threatening to swallow the forest. Just a peaceful, wooded clearing, the grass slightly taller than it was before.

Shadow kneels in the grass exactly where Sonic lay. With a gentle sweep to clear the brush, his hand reveals a faded inscription.

_SONIC THE HEDGEHOG_

_Beloved friend, fallen hero,_  
_spirit like the wind_

Sonic reels back a step, then another, distancing himself from that smooth slab of stone. His lips crack. His heart pounds. His throat doesn't know whether to curse or scream. But his legs, his truest source of faith, do what they've always known since the day he was born.

_May flowers bloom  
__in your footsteps_  
_wherever you run_


	2. Chapter 2

_I've begun to remember why I first refused this project._

_There was no longer any question of my involvement once Maria was born. No matter the ethical qualms I may have held, this would become my life's greatest work - to achieve the impossible, and grant mankind the key to immortality. _

_The longer I monitor his progress, however, the more those old misgivings return to haunt me. He regards us with an intelligence that grows by the day. His eyes were unfocused in the initial stages of neuro-oscillatory development. Now they shine with the light of intent and understanding, tracking us around the room with keen curiosity. It is like watching the eyes of a child. More and more we gain the sense that he awaits his birth. _

_Maria, of course, anticipates it with a great deal of interest _(_how the poor girl craves a new playmate_)_, but if I am being honest, I dread the moment he completes the transition from mere cognizance to full sentience. There will be no going back when we grant his lungs their first breath._

* * *

"Sonic!"

Shadow snaps around as aftershock quakes the grass, ripping up dry flakes. He pursues, determined not to let him go. Not like this. There must be an explanation. There must be a _reason._

"Sonic, wait!"

His command carries no echo, as the air is too still to even hold the sound of his voice.

Sonic pivots when he seizes his wrist and throws a blind punch. Easily dodged, of course. Kicks and blows assault the air around him in a vain attempt to buck him. _Let me go, Shadow. _

As they fight, the grasses mysteriously evaporate of their green and the ground melts. Their fur rises to a stand, wafting shimmering golden smoke into a vast, oppressive darkness. Out of the black, dust particles hurtle forth in angry red comets. Blistering heat, same as the heat that erupted from the bomb in the forest, envelops them, burning every ounce of their overcharged flesh.

Sonic grits his teeth as they each dig their fingers into the other's shoulders, their struggle making no headway in either direction. A droplet flies from his cheek and bursts in a spray between Shadow's eyes, forcing him to blink. Perspiration? He can't tell.

And they crumple onto the grass. Blue skies return, their bright hue seeping back in like the slow creep of watercolor under a brush stroke.

Sonic rolls over. "What the heck was that?"

"I don't know."

It somehow felt familiar. But he didn't recall wrestling Sonic up in space; he'd slipped quietly away, plummeting toward the planet, and the heat—

"Ugh… " His thoughts dissipate as Sonic clutches his stomach. "I don't feel good."

"When's the last time you've eaten?"

"How should I know?" Panting hard, he smears his mouth on his wrist with a grim smirk. "Not like it matters anymore, huh? Food or no food... " He shakes his head. "'s all the same."

"No," Shadow says, "it's not. You need to keep up your strength. Get up."

Sonic gingerly touches his temple, wincing. "Head's killin' me."

Shadow's clenched fists relax a little. Stepping around the boy, he slides an arm under his shoulders for support and helps him rise to a weak, tottering stand.

"Why're you doin' this?" Sonic asks. His heavy head sinks. "The stone… "

"It's not an indication," Shadow says. "We don't know how long we've been gone. After a certain amount of time, things might be assumed true that… necessarily aren't."

His shoulders slacken. "Why do I have one, and you don't?"

"It's possible that I have one somewhere as well."

"Shadow," Sonic says, his voice a low, bleak murmur. "See why I might be freaking out a little here?"

"This world hasn't disappeared," Shadow says. "We simply have to find a way to rejoin it." He pauses. "Perhaps then, the stone will be just another bad memory."

Sonic is silent for a long time. "I really hope you're right."

They walk together, leaving the flowers behind them.

* * *

Shadow observes the sky with folded arms while Sonic naps on a padded bench beside a meager onion patch, property of an abandoned cottage. It's not a fitful sleep; he lies eerily still save for the barest rise and fall of his chest. His brief bout of illness has afforded him a quiet reprieve.

A badly-needed rest, Shadow thinks. His restless mind seldom allows his body a chance to recover, as his dreams usually twitch his legs in convulsive spasms. As Sonic curled onto the bench, he murmured he'd be up in a wink. Shadow was slightly apprehensive that the incident in the clearing might have given him even more reason to toss and turn.

Without the atmosphere refracting its beams, the sun feels at once singular and hollow. It doesn't hurt to gaze upon its beams any more than the frozen clouds.

The ARK's face is half-masked by a wall of cumulus. A white butterfly aligns with the colony. Whether as coincidence or as omen, he can't quite say. Perhaps it isn't for him to interpret. The sunlight that pours through the spread wings shows its delicate veins in painstaking relief.

So, too, is the colony's visible half exposed. Its towers twinkle pale blue on its crenulated surface. The cannon receptacle a small but discernible point.

His brows tighten.

_Its orbit has grown closer._

He turns to his lone companion. Still asleep, his soundless exhalations rippling the glove cuff tucked under his cheek. He won't be able to impart this news until Sonic rouses, and even then, it's debatable whether his sleep-addled mind will process this information.

Why hadn't he realized this sooner? Of course the colony would be out of sync with the Earth; Chaos Control restabilized its position in space, but the several second delay between teleportation and return must have inflicted kind of residual effect: one that kept the colony from suffering the same fate as the rest of the planet.

Shadow's gaze descends, settling upon a cluster of leeks. He contemplates their lack of growth, and Sonic's implicit accusation returns to him. If this crushing, merciless quiet is the result of some hidden wish of his…

No. As much as he loathes this planet's constant chatter, he'd never wish it to stop turning. Neither does he desire to see Sonic dead. The stone must be the result of someone's misunderstanding. It would be all too easy for his friends to assume the worst after a sufficient amount of time had passed. (_But how much? That's the real question, isn't it?_) If the grass has grown enough to curl over the stone, then surely this cessation is slowly loosening on its own, or…

Sonic jolts awake with a strangled gasp. He hangs his head as he regains control over his breathing, stubbornly avoids the gaze directed his way. Dark circles hang under his eyes, made stark by a pale muzzle.

"'m fine," he says, and adds begrudgingly, clutching the seat: "You showed up in my dream, though."

Shadow says nothing.

"You said to find another Emerald."

"Hm. Good advice."

He begins to leave.

Weakly, Sonic lifts a brow. "You're seriously gonna take credit?"

* * *

Sonic screams.

_I can't breathe. Can't breathe, Shadow help. _Deep, gusty wheezes rattle his lungs, and he clutches and claws at his throat like a panicked animal. _Help me, Shadow—_

Lie back down, he replies, pressing a firm palm to his damp brow. Take slower breaths. Easy now. You've had another nightmare.

_Shadow I can't, I can't Shadow _

This will pass.

_Shadow it hurts_

You're fine. Nothing will hurt you.

_the stone_

The stone means nothing, Sonic.

_Shadow please_

I'm right here.

_no_

_you're not _

_can't see you_

_can't breathe _

_I'm falling_

_Shadow_

_help_

* * *

He was designed never to tire. An implacable weapon. Paper targets curled to singe under his strikes. As particle filters kicked in to ward off the smoke, researchers applauded his feline reflexes, admired his gargantuan strength.

Even he cannot fight an enemy he can't see or touch.

His work has become to assure Sonic that his mind is indeed not devouring him: his immediate goal to bide for more time by weathering his emotional shock. He waits until sleep descends. In the meantime, he loads the unconscious boy onto his back and searches for another Emerald.

There are none. The gem in his fist gains a faint, match-stricken flicker only when he walks toward the ARK.

Shadow's steps swish to a halt in the middle of an empty concrete square. Surrounded by puddles of vacant tables, he glowers at the motionless blue sky and shifts hold on his burden.

If he can call it that. Truth be told, the light, rabbit-like pulse of Sonic's heart against his quills has become a tentative sign that not everything has shut down. But if he doesn't move, even that might fade.

* * *

"Here. Drink."

Numb, Sonic grasps the the water bottle.

Nothing happens. Shadow resists the urge to crush his lips together as Sonic's refuse to part. The last time this happened, water spilled everywhere, Faker gagged on the rush of liquid to his windpipe and suffered a prolonged coughing jag. Furthermore, he neglected to intake any other form of sustenance.

He vows not to repeat that embarrassment. This is beneath both of them.

"I won't ask again." His voice bites. He has to remember not to chastise too harshly, that Sonic remains ill and doesn't merit the blame. "You require hydration."

Plastic crinkles as fingers crush around the bottle. He withdraws his grasp. Watches the meniscus lower.

Sonic's nightmares have drained his spirits. Most food he ingests returns as watery bile an hour or two later. Thin and pallid, he writhes as he huddles into himself, complaining of freezing, then burning. After which, a dark silence overtakes him. Recently, he's taken to sleeping as if…

_No._

_Fight, Sonic._

_You're stronger than this. _

Shadow combats his lethargy by speaking to him of all the things he has to look forward to—the trivial details of Sonic's life that he'd babbled about. Things he'd once dismissed as irritiating drivel now come swimming back to him. A cheerful reunion with his friends. Sleeping in a hammock. The chilidogs and malt shakes he incessantly complained of craving, instead of these quick meals stolen from vending machines and dusty pantries. The sound of his steps puffing sand. Rock music. Even the thrill of fighting Eggman, nonsensical though the endeavor seems to him.

He isn't so petty as to beg, but it feels as though he comes close. Right now, Sonic, the guardian is standing in the sun, bored without your taunts to keep him company. Stay hydrated; your admirer would wring our necks if she saw you in this state. Yes, _all_ of it. You can't possibly hope to outrace the Doctor's machines on these weakened legs. He'd crush you to a pulp.

(_Can you hear me, Sonic?_)

Stretching your legs in the morning. Amy's painful, air-robbing hugs. The reassurance you'll never have to do this alone. An ocean tide crashing over the _Tornado_, leaving it to glisten in the sun. The satisfying crunch of metal that precedes an animal popping free of its robotic enclosure. Button-mashing fighting games. Forgetting to return books to the library, never minding the off-chance you might get sucked into the world inside. Wide open blue skies and the clean smell of dandelions. Picking twigs out of your quills. Mrs. Rabbit's kind smile. Laughing at some corny joke until your sides hurt.

(_Do these things matter to you still?_)

A broken hockey stick duct-taped too many times to count. Cheesy late night horror flicks. Cream's daisy chains gently crowned on your head. A bird of paradise you glimpsed on a dewy leaf in Mazuri, so exquisite as it soared into the canopy you wished you'd remembered your camera… Oh, well, maybe next time.

(_Don't turn your back on them_.)

Ruffling Tails' hair when he makes you prouder than usual. Little Planet floating over a crystal-clear lake. Roller coasters, a blast of wind and a quick thrill, though not nearly fast enough for your liking. Knuckles growls, but you thump his back with a quick laugh anyway, because you know you can count on him when you need him. The first time you felt the Chaos Emeralds' energy coursing through your veins and realized anything was possible.

(_Your journeys have yet to end_.)

* * *

"Listen to me. I have an idea." Shadow squats down on the rug beside him as he drowses on a lounge chair, staring at the hotel lobby's chandelier. He turns the Emerald within the cradle of his hands before continuing. "The ARK's free of the effects this Chaos Control's unleashed on the world. I've been thinking of a way to get aboard. But it will require both of our efforts to pull it off."

Huddled beneath a bundle of quilts and covers snatched from other rooms—enough to have Shadow branded a common thief were there staff to witness it—Sonic shivers. His bruise-colored eyelids wince shut. _Feels like I'm burning up, _he whispers. But he blinks hard, tries to keep them open. Still in there. Still fighting.

"Only a little energy left," Shadow says. "If we induce Chaos Control at the same time, perhaps it would generate just enough of a push to get us there." He turns. "Do you understand?"

As he extends the Emerald, the rustle of patchwork subsides. Sonic raises bloodshot green eyes without answer. He gazes upon the Emerald and then contemplates Shadow for the longest time, his irises flickering over every contour as if searching for some grain of deception.

After an equally long pause, something breaks in his forlorn expression. A dry sound trickles from his throat: a chuckle. One corner of his mouth tucks slightly upward. The dwindling flame flickers in renewal.

His arm worms its way free from a burrow of heavy fabric. Lifting his arm as though the folds drag him down, he wraps tremulous fingers around the Emerald, letting its faint warmth caress the gaps in between.

He whispers it through cracked lips, echoing Shadow's call with the last of his waning strength.

_Chaos Control._

They vanish, leaving behind a pile of rumpled blankets.

* * *

_The ultimate life, designed to thumb our collective noses at the laws of nature. Such a feat would normally not exist were it not for humanity's prideful aims, both theirs and my own. Past the marvel and the awe, one cannot help but wonder where these ambitions lead. The military salivates at the prospect of turning him into a weapon. Within his cells sleeps her cure, her salvation. _

_So I thought. I must admit, these days I find that the boundary between specimen and soul blurs. _

_There is one critical distinction that separates him from us: the passage of time, that phenomenon to which every living being eventually submits. His lack of aging will render time meaningless to him. I fear it shall become his plaything if we fail to proceed with the utmost caution._

_That is why it remains imperative that we obey our responsibilities to him, not simply as researchers but as guides. Someone must monitor him to prevent another failure, yes, but someone must also teach him right from wrong. That power as great as his must never fulfill selfish desires. _

_He must retain a strong sense of justice, humility, and restraint. Conscience above all: we will not always be there to keep him in check. _

_I shudder to think what might happen should circumstances demand he harness his full power. May that day never come._


	3. Chapter 3

_There's a face searching far, so far and wide_  
_There's a place where you'd dream you'd never find_  
_Hold on to what if_  
_Hold on to what if_

—Live and Learn

* * *

He dreams of sailing constellations and wandering meteors. Stars glitter within neurons just beginning to learn how to perceive their light. The silence that envelops him, a tranquil shelter that permits none of the weaknesses of mortal flesh—no pain, no heat, no cold. Ensconced inside himself, he floats in a perfect harmony between subject and observer.

But the darkness is fragile; it shivers. It begins to shift. His blind eyes blink open, and the stars crack and bleed an intense crimson heat. The colony, his home, shakes violently as if to strike the planet with an iron hand—and one of the stars flashes toward him—one of the stars calls his name.

_"Shadow."_

The ARK's cold, empty corridors echo the faintest disturbance. It shouldn't surprise him that they easily carry the sound of Sonic's small, thin voice, but it shudders him to the bone.

His name tapers into a deep, oppressive silence.

Prying his cheek from the corrugated floor, he lifts heavy knees and climbs to his feet. His steps generate a dense grind, metal on metal. Overly filtered air squeezes his temples, making the blood pulse hard between his ears. This quiet he once took refuge in now seems more intent on crushing him.

Shadow accelerates the pace. Steel and cable floors morph into glass panels, underneath which his reflection streaks past.

He finds Sonic lying supine on the floor of an abandoned lab.

"Did it, bud." He has trouble keeping his head up, preferring to sag instead against the support of Shadow's arm. "Made it. You're home."

Giving him a weak, unfocused smile, he closes his eyes, and does the one thing Shadow didn't think possible.

* * *

How many times has he demanded he sleep? How many times has he insisted that Sonic shut his mouth? _Keep quiet so I can think. _

And now look at them: truly a pathetic pair. The boy lies horribly, unnaturally still in his arms. His pale lips part to draw a breath that will never come. Quiet as the grass that grows over a grave.

_No._

_It isn't over yet._

_It_…_ can't be._

He hurries down the labyrinth of winding halls, dead-ends impeding his progress. He has to find it. For Sonic's sake, he has to find a stasis pod.

* * *

The capsule hums as it emits a soft green glow. Nestled within its bed of cables, Sonic slumbers.

Shadow brushes a fingertip along the glass, throat tightening.

"I was created in one of these," he says quietly. He doesn't know why he talks about this now. What little good it would do. He can't even remember it, as much as one might remember being born. "I hope it'll help."

The Emerald produces a sudden burst of light. As he looks toward it, an abrupt stabbing pain bursts into his skull, compelling him to clutch his head and squeeze his eyes shut. He doubles over, witnessed by a pod-bound body as the floor and walls around them melt into darkness and their fur gleams a pale gold.

Again, he's enveloped in the deep sea of space that he and Sonic encountered during their fight in the clearing.

* * *

_"Shadow!"_

Don't touch me.

_"Where are you going?" _

To fulfill Maria's wish. That's all I have left.

_"You're wrong! Don't do this!"_

No, he insists. He has to finish what he started.

Sonic drags him back. _"Shadow," _he yells, stabbing a finger at the roaring creature that makes a mockery of the ultimate life form, _"you're almost out of energy! Get back to the colony and I'll take care of this creep!"_

He blasts off in a rainfall of sparks.

_"No, I have to_— _Sonic? Sonic, wait_— _Come back!"_

The colony vanishes, only to reappear tamed a few seconds later. The monstrous being piloting it has disintegrated into a cloud of space dust, which disperses in scattered flecks.

Shadow scans the bright curve of atmosphere churning the Earth's clouds when he spots it in the distance: the golden hedgehog now turned blue.

He races toward it, but a flash of heat repels him, shoves him back.

He screams, but silence strangles his voice.

A speck in the atmosphere, as blue as sky and sea: a pinprick flare devours him.

Shadow floats in the darkness, unbelieving.

_"No_…

_"It wasn't_…_ supposed to be like this_…

_"Maria_…

_"What have I done_…_ "_

* * *

_He fell because of you. _

_You knew it should have been you in his place. So you induced another Chaos Control, and used the the Emeralds' power to wish for a world without death._

_Suffice to say, not all wishes deserve to come true._

* * *

Shadow picks up the drained Emerald he's laid at the pod's base and turns it in his hands, watching both of their reflections glimmer and revolve. An infinitesimal spark still burns within. It shouldn't be possible. Restoring the world should have been a vain effort.

Is it? Sonic's lent the last of his life to teach him this lesson. Horror, hate, mercy, and affection: all are facets of the same heart.

"Sonic," he whispers. "Forgive me." His gaze settles upon the planet he and Maria used to contemplate. He hadn't realized at the time what beauty it could hold. "And… Thank you."

He knows now what must be done.

* * *

Sonic doesn't know why he slows in this particular spot. There's not much reason to chill in a clearing of tall grasses unless you wanna invite an army of hungry mosquitoes to chow down. Even so, something compels him to stand in the shadow of a towering pine and appreciate the view.

The sky glows a clear, lustrous blue. As the old cliche goes, the sun is shining and the birds are chirping. All in all, seems pretty peaceful. No Eggman antics to speak of, anyway.

Slowly, his brows knit together. Creeping in from behind a wispy cloud, the space colony drifts into view. Its pyramids of towers and blinking lights remind him of a previous adventure. More importantly: an enemy turned friend.

His foot brushes a flat stone slab blanketed by dry weeds, whose inscription reads a simple epitaph. _A brave and heroic hedgehog. _He's ashamed to say he'd almost forgotten.

"Shadow," he murmurs, voice surrendered to the lonely scrape of wind through the trees. He loses himself in a moment's reflection before giving the sky a tiny grin. "Be seein' ya, buddy."

And he's off.

* * *

**\- End.**


End file.
